``A solid estimate of the value of open-source bioinformatics tools in the development, validation and application of methods for organizing and analyzing biomedical information is not only unavailable now, it is also unlikely to be attainable in the future. The difficulty stems largely from the wide range of open-source bioinformatics software packages, applications, and tools now in the field; the disparate and far-flung army of developers and contributors to the tools; and the virtually nonexistent tracking of who uses the tools and for what purposes.

``Yet the contribution of bioinformatics to life science research cannot be overstated. Proponents see open-source methods as a way to engage numerous programmers globally to advance particular bioinformatics ideas. They often perceive their output as a source of respite that removes the need for computational life science researchers to write the same code all over again, reducing the financial burden generally associated with software acquisition, and helping to grapple with specific issues more efficiently despite the growing bioinformatics data load."